Russian Revolution: The story behind the revolution that changed the world

The early years of 20th century saw a lot of unrest in
Russia. Under the rule of monarchs the country was facing major drawbacks in
terms of both economy and governance. Nicholas II, the last Tsar of Russia,
lost control of the state which fell into rebellions. In 1905, despite
Nicholas' desire to rule Russia as an autocratic state, he had to put a Duma
(Russian parliament) in place, to pacify the upheaval. The Duma was
nothing more than an rubber-stamp for the Russian Tsar. He kept dissolving
the selected members as per his own convenience which eventually led to a
greater unrest in 1917. Russia's participation in World War 1 was seen as the
final nail in the coffin of the monarchist government.

The Russian revolution is regarded as the turning point in
the history of the biggest country in the world. Here, we'll take a thorough
look at a timeline of the crisis period in Russian history and discuss the most
probable causes of the revolution:

1904-05

Russia lost a major war against Japan which had
serious repercussions on the Tsar's rule. The rebellion took the form of a
general strike which can also qualify as an attempted revolution. Nicholas was
forced to put out the October Manifesto which led to the creation of the
Russian Duma

The Tsar did bring in reforms into the new constitutional
monarchy which included more freedom to the press, improvement in the condition
of the industrial workers and cancellation of redemption payments paid by the
farmers.

1906-17

Within a few months after Duma was setup, Nicholas started
getting weary about the new powers bestowed to the Duma. He dissolved the first
Duma of 1906 after 10 weeks. The second Duma suffered the same fate. The Tsar
introduced new voting laws that restricted the democratic element of the
elected representatives

The following two Dumas survived much longer as they mostly
served the Tsar's interests and the voting rights were given to a the upper
classes of the society. The first Duma lasted from 1907-12 and the second one
lasted from 1912 to 1917

After a second consecutive defeat in a major war, the unrest
grew wider and since the state's forces did not get time to recuperate, the
revolution seemed inevitable.

The revolution is divided in two phases, the March
Revolution and the November Revolution.

1917

The March Revolution:

On March 8, 1917, a riot broke out in Petrograd for the
exorbitant prices of bread.The nearby
armament factory workers joined the protest in what seemed like a spontaneous
outrage against the state

The Tsar sent in forces to suppress the protest
which turned violent and resulted in the death of 40 unarmed protesters

Though
Nicholas was sending in more troops to suppress the rebellion, there were
officers who refused to fire at unarmed citizens

With the failure of the state
machinery, the Duma suggested the Tsar to step down to save the monarchy

Sensing an end to the monarchy, the Tsar abdicated in favour
of his brother, the Grand Duke Michael. This did not work out for the monarchy
when the Grand Duke refused to take up the throne. With this, the Russian
monarchy came to an end

The Duma set up a provisional government but failed to keep
up with the expectations of the masses due to the enormous amount of issues
faced by the government. This was followed by another revolution in just a
matter of eight months.

The November
Revolution:

The provisional government was unable to serve the demands
of the revolutionary elements and also delayed the process of a fresh
elections

In the meanwhile, Lenin was granted amnesty under the new regime and
he returned from his exile from Switzerland. He believed that it was time for
Bolsheviks to cease the authority

In November 1917, Lenin urged the Petrograd Soviet (an
elected committee of soldiers' and workers' representatives) to seize power from
the provincial government

Trotsky was the one who planned the entire coup and
was able to capture the ministers without bloodshed

Soon after the coup, Lenin set up a new Soviet government
and appointed himself as the new head

The revolution was not as simple in
areas other than Petrograd. The fight lasted for a week in Moscow and other
cities were brought under the new Soviet government by the end of November.

Analysis and historiography on the nature of The Russian Revolution

The Russian Revolution is the second most popular
revolution, after the French revolution, which can be considered as a major
influence on the 20th century politics. The Russian revolution is seen as a
source-event for a lot of international policies that are in place till this
day. Since the revolution, historians have been constantly debating about the
nature of the revolution.

Here are a few prominent school of thoughts regarding the
nature of the revolution:

Soviet/Western
Marxist:

Prominent historians: C. Hill, J. Reed

These historians are strong sympathizers of Lenin's rule and
his ascension to power. They believe that the Bolshevik Revolution was
inevitable. The school of thought is strongly influenced by Marx's
understanding of politics and economics. They glorified the rule of Lenin by
calling him a leader of the masses. The History of the Communist Party of the
Soviet Union, which was published under the rule of Lenin's successor Stalin,
is a perfect example of this view.

Liberal view:

Prominent Historians: J.H. Keep, B. Pares, R. Pipes

The Liberal view
gained a lot of popularity in the western countries during the Cold War and
harbours a fundamental distaste for Marx's teaching and the communist agendas.
They were of the view that the March revolution was more due to the discontent
after the Tsar failed at World War I. They discredit the Bolshevik Revolution
for ending the monarchist government. According to R. Pipes, they wanted to
establish "one party dictatorship." In Communism a Brief
History(2001), Pipes opines that the fall of the Soviet Union was a direct
consequence of a flawed governance under the leftist state.

Revisionist View:

Prominent historians: A. Rabinowitch, R. Service, M. Ferro,
S. Smith

The Revisionist school of thought uses empirical evidence to
analyse the nature of the rebellion. They strongly emphasize on the role of the
masses in triggering the revolution. According to them, the March Revolution
was the main turning point which overthrew the authority of the Tsar which
eventually created a void of power that could not be filled by the provisional
government. They do not discredit Lenin for his mass-appealing promises which
was a strong factor in encouraging the Petrograd Soviet to take over the state
forces. On the other hand, they criticise Lenin's governance after the
revolution and emphasise on the lack of administrational support and
discipline.

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